Rack with retractable mobile support



Dec. 26, 1961 w. J. HIGGINBOTHAM 3,014,733

RACK WITH RETRACTABLE MOBILE SUPPORT Filed June l0, 1960 2 SheetsSheet 1 Dec. 26, 1961 w. J. HIGGINBOTHAM 3,014,733

RACK WITH RETRACTABLE MOBILE SUPPORT Filed June 1o, 1960 2 sheets-sheet 2 INVENTOR. M/.H/G G//vso THA/w United htates tPatent@there i asians 3,014,733 RACK WITH RETRACTABLE MQBILE SUPPQR Winteld I. ll-Iigginbotharn, 814 Big Somerset St.,

Gloucester City, NJ. p, Filed .lerne 10, 1960, Ser. No. 35,342 2 Caims. (Cl. 28d-43.1)

This invention relates to a rack of novel construction which is primarily adapted for holding -a plurality of baseball bats in readily accessible positions, but whichr may be readily utilized as a rack or holder for various other articles.

Another object of the invention is to provide a rack having a wheel structure on which the rack can be supported in an elevated position for transport and which wheel structure is retractable into the rack body, when the rack is not being moved.

A further object of the invention is to provide a rack FIGURE 2 is a cross sectional view of the rack, takenV substantially along a plane as indicated bythe line 2-2 of FIGURE 1, and showing the wheel structure extended;

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view of the rack, taken substantially along a plane as indicated by the line 3-3 of FIGURE l and showing the wheel structure retactedyV wall 15, yas best seen in FIGURE 2, and a similar spacer strip 23 is disposed between the walls 12 and 21 and adjacent the side wall 15.

A longitudinal partition wall 25 extends between and is secured to the partition walls 2t? and 21 and has its upper edge terminating below the level of theupper ends of the end walls 11 and 12, and slightly below the level of the upper ends of said partition walls and 21. Said longitudinal partition wall is disposed approximately midway between the side walls 14 and 15 and has its bottom edge disposed above and spaced from the bottom 13, as seen in FGURE 3. A top ange 26 is secured to the upper edge of the longitudinal partition wall 25 and extends outwardly from opposite sides thereof. Both longitudinal edges of the ilange 26 are provided with spaced arcuate no-tches 27 which are disposed in substantially the same transverse vertical planes as the notches 19, but which notches 27 are smaller than the notches 19.

The bottom 13 is provided with transversely elongated openings 23 located adjacent the ends vof said bottom and Y adjacent the side wall 14, and in longitudinal alignment with one another, as best seen in FIGURES 2, 4 and 5. The partition walls 2@ and 21 are provided with correspending aligned notches or recesses 29 which extend upwardly to a considerable height from the bottom 13 and laterally from the side wall 14 to the longitudinal partition wall 25, as seen in FIGURES 2 and 4. Accord- A ingly, the notches or recesses 29 are disposed above the FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal substantially vertical sectional view through the rack, taken substantially along the line 4 4 of FIGURE 3,; v

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged bottom plan view of the rack, partially broken away, and

FGURE 6 is ya fragmentary horizontal sectional view, taken substantially along a plane as `indicated by the line 6 6 of FIGURE 3.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the mobile rack in its entirety is designated gener-ally 8 and includes a rack body or casing, designated generally 9, iand a wheel structure, designated generally 1d.

The rack body or casing 9 includes corresponding end walls 11 and 12, a bottom 13 and side walls 14 and 15. rhe bot-tom 13 has rounded longitudinal edge portions 16 which merge with bottom edges of the side walls 14 and 15, and said bottom 13 extends between the end walls 11 and 12. The end walls 11 `and 12 have upwardly converging side edges to which the ends of tbe side walls 14 and 15 are secured. so that said side walls are disposed in upwardly converging relation to one another, as seen in FIGURES 2 and 3.v The side walls 14 and 15 terminate at a level approximately midway between the bottom 13 and the upper ends of the end.

walls 11 and 12, as best seen in FIGURE 3, and said side walls have anges 17 and 18, respectively, secured to and extending inwardly from the upper edges thereof. The inner edges of the flanges 17 and 18 are provided with arcuate notches 19, as best illustra-ted in FIGURE 6.

The casing or body 9 also includes upright transverse walls 20 and 21 which extend upwardly from the bottom 13 to adjacent the upper end of the end walls and which are located adjacent to but spaced slightly from the end walls 11 and 12, respectively, as best seen in FIGURES 1 and 4. The walls 20 and 21 are secured to the bottom 13 and side walls 14 and 15. A spacer member 22 extends upwardly between the walls 11 and 20 and along the edges thereof which are disposed adjacent the side openings 2S. Spacer elements 31 are located between the unnotched bottom edges of the partition walls 20 and 21 and the end walls 11 and 12, respectively, as seen in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4.

Strips 32 yand 33, which are disposed ccplanar, are secured to opposite sides of the longitudinal partition wall 2S, at approxi-mately the level of the ilanges 17 and 18, and have arcuate notches 34- opening toward the notches 19. The notches 34 are disposed lin opposed relation to the notches 19 and beneath the notches 27.

Leaf springs 35 are secured by fastenings 3d, at corresponding ends thereof, to the partition wall `25, be-

neathV andadjacentY the strips. 32 and 33. Said spring one side by the strip 22. The side wall 14 is notched at one end and vat its upper edge, a-s seen at 33, and the opposite side of said passageway 37 is open from the bottom of the notch 38 to the upper end" of the spacing strip 22, as seen in FIGURES 1 and 2. The partition wall 21, end wall 12 andspacer strip 23 combine to form a passageway 39, at the other end of the b-ody 9, corresponding to the passageway 37, and the other end of the wall 14 has a notch 40, corresponding to the notch 38, `and dening the lower end of the open side of said passageway 39. The side wall 14 has inturned lips 41, as seen in FIGURE 2, at the lower ends off the notches 38 and 4G.

The wheel structure lll includes a shaft 42 which eX- tends to adjacent the end walls`11 and 12 and which `is disposed beneath and nearly in' alignment with the longitudinal partition wall 25, as seen in FIGURE 3.

The shaft 42 is journaled and supported by journal members 43 which are secured to and extend downwardly Patented Dec. 261, 1961 laterally from the ends of the shaft 42 and wheels 46 and 47 are journaled in the forks 44 and 45, respectively. The forks 44 and 45 are disposed coplanar and extend from the shaft toward the wall I4, so that said forks and the wheels supported thereby are accommodated in the notches 29 and the wheels are disposed to swing through the openings 23.

The wheel structure 10 also includes a handle 4S including substantially parallel arms 4h and 50 which are secured to the ends of the shaft 42 and which are disposed at acute angles to the forks 44 and 45. The other outer ends of the arms 49 and 5t? are connected by a grip portion 51 of the handle 48, which extends therebebetween and which preferably includes an encasing sleeve 52. The handle arm 4? is disposed for swinging movement in the passage 37 and the handle arm 5t) is similarly disposed for swinging movement in the passage39. The handle 48 is swingable between an upright position with the arms 49 and 50 bearing against the upper ends of the strips 22 and 23 and an inclined position with said arms bearing against the lips 41, as seen in broken lines and full lines, respectively, of FIGURE 2. When the handle is in an upright position, as seen in FIGURE 3 and in broken lines in FIGURE Z, the forks 44 and 45 are inclined upwardly from the shaft 42 and wheels 46 and 47 are elevated and disposed within the body 9 and above the bottom 13, so that the rack 8 is supported by the bottom 13 resting on a supporting surface 53. This constitutes the normal position of the rack when in use.

When it is desired to move or transport the rack, the handle 48 is swung downwardly to its full line position of FIGURE 2 to cause the forks 44 and 45 and the wheels 46 and 47 to be swung downwardly by rotation of the shaft 42 in the journals/t3, so that portions of the wheels 46 and 47 then protrude downwardly through the openings 28. The grip portion Sli, 52 is grasped for propelling the rack on the wheels d and 47, and a downward pressure is exerted on said grip portion to maintain the rack body in substantially an upright position, as illustrated in FIGURE 2, with the bottom 13 elevated relative tothe supporting surface 53. in this elevated position of the rack 8, the rack body 9 tends to swing counterclockwise about the axis of the wheels 46 and 47 and a sucient downward pressure must be exerted' on the handle 43 to counteract this tendency and maintain the rack body elevated.

The rack has been illustrated as a bat rack with a plurality of bats 54 contained therein on opposite sides of the longitudinal wall 25. The enlarged end 55 of each bat is inserted between a notch 19 and an adjacent notch 34, as seen in FIGURE 6, and thereafter engages the Convex side of the leaf spring 3S disposed beneath said notches. The bat 54 is displaced downwardly until the knob 57 of its handle 56 is disposed just above the level of the ange 26. The bat is then released and the spring 35 displaces the bat end 55, which is disposed above and spaced from the bottom 13, away from the wall 25 and toward either the side wall I4 or 15. The bat is caused to fulcrum in the notch 19 in which an intermediate portion of said bat engages, for swinging the handle 56 of the bat inwardly and into engagement with the notch 27 which is disposed in the same transverse vertical plane as said notch 19 and on the same side of the wall 25. The knob 57 will then rest on the flange 26 to support the bat in the rack. The bat 54 is thus held tightly in engagement with the aforementioned notches 19 and 27 by the tension of the spring 35. To remove the bat 54, the handle portion 56 is grasped and pulled outwardly to cause the bat to fulcrum in the notch 19 for swinging the bat end 55 inwardly to compress the spring 35 and so that the bat can be slid upwardly and out of the rack. Each of the bats 54 is selectively applied and removed in the aforementioned manner. The bats are applied and removed while the rack 8 is in a stationary position as seen in FIGURES l, 3 and 4, in which position the handle 48 is located in an upright position so that the grip portion 51, 52 is disposed above and between the upper ends of the bats to afford no interference to the application and removal of the bats.

As seen in FIGURE 3, a container 58 is secured to the inner side of the wall .t5 near the bottom 13 and extends longitudinally of said wall. The container may be filled with any heavy substance 59 such as lead, stones, sand, etc. The weight 59 counterbalances the weight of the wheels 47 when the rack is resting on its bottom 13 so that there will be no tendency for the rack 8 to overturn should all of the bats 54 be removed from the left or front side thereof, as seen in FIGURE 3.

It will be readily understood that the rack 8 may be made in various sizes to accommodate any desired number of bats, and that the rack is also adapted to hold other elongated items, such as golf clubs, billiard cues or the like, merely by changing the size of the notches.

Various other modifications and changes are likewise contemplated and may be resorted to, without departing from the function or scope of the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

l. A mobile rack comprising a rack body having article retaining means, said rack body including a bottom adapted to rest on a supporting surface and provided with spaced openings, a shaft journaled in the rack body above the bottom thereof, wheel forks projecting laterally from and fixed to said shaft, wheels journaled in said wheel forks and supported thereby in alignment with said openings, and a handle ixed to said shaft and disposed for swinging movement relative to the body for swinging said wheels between retracted raised positions within the body and extended lowered positions protruding through said openings, said wheel forks being disposed at an acute angle to the handle and being positioned to swing upwardly and downwardly in unison with the handle, said body having spaced stops engageable by said handle for limiting swinging movement of the handle, wheel forks and wheels, one of said stops being engaged by the ,handle when the handle is at an incline relative to the body and with the wheels disposed in lowered positions, said stop providing an abutment for said handle whereby the weight of the rack body acting against the downward pressure exerted on the handle maintains the wheels in lowered positions and the rack body in an elevated position supported to fulcrum about the axis of the wheels.

2. A mobile rack comprising a substantially upright rack body having a bottom adapted to rest on a supporting surface and provided with spaced openings, means forming a part of said rack body for receiving and detachably and resiliently clamping a plurality of elongated articles in the body; a shaft journaled in said body above said bottom, wheel forks fixed to and projecting lateraily from said shaft, wheels journaled in said forks and supported thereby in alignment with said openings, a handle fixed to and projecting laterally from said shaft and having a grip portion disposed externally of the rack body, and said lbody having spaced abutments between which the handle is swingable for turning the shaft to swing the forks and wheels for moving said wheels between a retracted raised position within the body and a lowered operative position protruding through said openings, said wheel forks being disposed at an acute angle to the handle and being positioned to swing upwardly and downwardly in unison with said handle, said wheels being disposed so that the body tends to rock about the axis of the wheels when the wheels are in lowered positions, one of said abutments being disposed to be engaged by the handle when the handle is disposed at an incline relative to the body with said wheels in lowered positions whereby a downward pressure exerted on the handle counteracts the tendency of the body to pivot 5 6 about the Wheels for maintaining the wheels in lowered 983,203 Carver Jan. 31, 1911 positions and the body in an elevated and substantially 1,122,833 Withrow Dec. 29, 1914 upright position. 1,137,993 McCarthy May 4, 1915 1,951,255 Parker Mar. 13, 1934 References Cited in the file of this patent 5 2,722,431 Victor Nov` 1J 1955 UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS v700,397 Withrow May 20, 1902 

